I lost my place for a few seconds, but otherwise, I think, improving.
While I hope to improve my skills at making people laugh, my long-term goal is to develop more social and emotional skills of leadership, as I teach and coach my students and clients. I live and practice what I teach and coach.
I’m doing this to
- Face and overcome anxiety
- Empathize with people
- Find and express universal sentiments that we know but don’t express
- Allow myself to be vulnerable with an audience
- Learn to read a room
- And so on
Comedians find ways to say what others can’t, which I consider important. I intend to develop that skill too.
I think many people dream of at least trying an open-mic performance once but a small fraction of them do it. I’ve felt the tug for a while, certainly since the incredible learning experience of acting and improv classes.
I wasn’t going to let myself be someone who always thought about it but never did it. Once I started, I sensed the value to public performance and wasn’t going to pass on the chance to learn.
This was a huge improvement in delivery and body language, Josh! You were more comfortable, more expressive in tone and with your hands. And you handled the “oops, I forgot” very well. Keep at it!
Thank you, Ariel. The support helps since performing for an audience makes one so vulnerable, especially when you write your own material. I’ll do my best to keep at it, but time is tight with starting writing the new book. I’ll keep posting when I perform.